Two Fall Monetas

I was gung-ho to start the Jean-ius course on Craftsy but hit a roadblock when I discovered I needed silk organza.  I'll have to order some so in the meantime I made two Monetas for fall.  A couple of years ago I saw a picture in a magazine of a woman wearing a knit dress, a cardigan and a scarf.  So cute and chic. I've tried to come up with a couple of "uniforms" for fall to keep myself focused and this is one of them.

I absolutely love this gray fabric I found at my local fabric store.  It is such a nice quality.  It was $16/yard which feels pricey when you're looking at the bolt but it's so much better to buy something high quality that wears well.  

My original intention was to make it with sleeves but at the last minute I left them off.  I'm going to see if I can get more wear out of a sleeveless top in a heavier fabric.  Maybe if I wear it with a heavy sweater, tights and boots I can wear it in the winter but also in the spring and fall with a lighter sweater.

This is my second Moneta with the Peter Pan collar (first one here). I thought maybe the previous material was to blame for the collar sticking up but I had the same issue with this material.  I've had a Bernina machine for a couple of year and would you believe that this is the first time I've used a decorative stitch? I used it to anchor the the collar to the dress. After I completed it I was sad I didn't think ahead and do some embroidery all over the collar.  Next time, I guess.

I only managed to get one decent picture of the second Moneta because my photographer/son was chomping at the bit to go out with his friends.  I had a few issues with this dress.  1) I know that I just said that I feel better when I buy higher quality fabrics.  I didn't follow my own advice on this one.  I ordered this online.  I was so in love with the idea of polka dots but the quality is just not great. It's thin and flimsy. 2)  I made the version that doesn't have a lined bodice.  Since I was going to use a twin needle around the neckline I decided to reinforce it with knit interfacing.  Disaster! The fabric stretched and curled so bad that I won't be wearing this one without a scarf.  3) I use the XS bodice graded out to a small at the waist.  I figured the XS sleeves would fit snugly around my biceps but they were very baggy.  I went back and used a much bigger seam allowance but I'll have to fix the pattern piece.